Ch. 7
Underwhelming was the word that came to mind when Jaune Arc looked at the ragtag group of would-be soldiers. He wondered how they even made it this far. Even the other able-bodied troops looked at the trio with a modicum of contempt. It would seem the three were no strangers to being at the bottom.
Jaune, really didn't like the deja vu vibes he was always getting from them.
After shaking his head profusely, Lord Granite began trying to reign in his men once more.
"Seeing as how we are all present and accounted for, we can begin. We move in small groups, 2 to 4 people maximum. Each group will enter through the gateway in three-minute intervals, after which you will all make your way to the coast. Be sure to mind the landscape as our rivals are crafty and fighting dirty just so happens to be their specialty."
The many initiates and soldiers present were deeply concerned at the idea of being possibly ambushed.
The Gauntlet was known to be quite unforgiving considering how many view it as an honor to hone their skills there. In a way, they felt as though they'd scheduled an audience with the Empress every time they came. A presence that was always felt, seldom heard and rarely ever seen, yet the people of Laguna knew who it was. No one would dare hold back their skills in this sacred place.
No one would dare to disrespect their savior, their Empress... their Goddess.
This was far more than just ruin to Laguna. This was... is a Holy ground to be revered.
Turning on his heel, he faced the young Arc and Lieutenant. "The two of you will be my left and right hands, you will escort and protect me on our way to the coastline. I myself will not be fighting, I will merely be assessing your overall skill and combat knowledge."
"But I thought you were going to train me?"
Jaune muttered, to which the General quickly replied:
"Oh I am, boy. I wasn't lying when I said I was impressed with how you handled yourself in the Palewood. That being said, you are incredibly sloppy and lack rhythm."
Clutching his chest, the arc lad could feel the verbal arrow slamming into his heart and pride.
"The usage of your own aura is average at best, and lets not get on the topic of your swordplay please..."
The arc lad swore he was hanging on a target board, watching and awaiting the coming hailstorm of arrows to pelt him.
Continuing, the General spoke again: "There is still much for you to learn. Fortunately, you now have a partner to train with." Staring intently at Navy, he addressed her with a firm voice.
"Lieutenant, you and the young Arc are quite similar in that regard. Both of you show much potential and I am going to coax it out of the two of you in time." Navy's eyes widened for a brief second, she probably couldn't believe she was being chosen by the General himself no less.
As he finished the briefing, he balled up his fist and held it to his chest in some sort of salute.
"Remember, while this is a 'quote, unquote,' training ground, your lives are entirely your own responsibility. Many have fallen here and will continue to fall here if and when they don't understand and respect the lay of the land within the Gauntlet. Don't lose focus, work with your fellow Tenebrae and overcome.
Remember our creed, Death in our breath!"
A chorus of men and women echoed the Generals words, morale having been slightly boosted. Slightly shocked, Jaune looked around to see every soldier with their fists to their chests, loudly repeating their sacred motto among over things.
"Death in our breath!"
"Hoooorahhhhh!!"
"Hear our voice, Lady Morganna!"
"For the Empress!"
Countless roars of confidence and reverence filled the air.
With that, the gates of the Gauntlet began to stir. Gears and machinery from within the wall had now started to shift and grind, screeching and giving way to space for the doors to slide back into. The opening doors groaned in unison as they moved aside, allowing the waiting warriors passage.
The open passage revealing a long, walled hallway. Still open to the sky, the young Arc was quickly assaulted by the smell of salt water. The tops of the walls were covered in a rust-colored red vine with a purple tint. The vine itself looked as though it oozed down the stone, nature's attempt at retaking the land on full display.
Further down the hallway, one could vaguely see the walls open up to a wide space. A mirage like visage of broken walls and a set of staircases could be seen in the distance.
Away went the first team, four women clad in their jumpsuits. Each of them coincidentally shared the same hair color and slightly varying eye colors, yet they all had different hairstyles expressing their own individuality. Their weapons were all some kind of knife or blade with what appeared to be the Lagunian equivalent of a pistol. They quickly and silently marched into the soon to be battleground.
Quadruplets? Clones? The young Arc had no clue.
The next interval, a two-man group of helmeted, extremely buff men hulked their way into The Gauntlet. One wearing a scuffed and marked bomber jacket and the other shirtless. The dastardly duo each wielded a large axe with a large, barreled chamber right down the middle of the pole. Both of which were completely identical except for the colors, one black and one blue.
On the clock, yet another group of four made its way to the gate. An even team of two men and two women each wearing their own rendition of the jumpsuit tailored to their own personal tastes. They shared a few nods to each other before moving together in unison through the aged hall.
After watching the many groups of initiates and soldiers charge through the opening, it was clear that they all had the express intent of being the victors of this battle. As Coral, Onyx and Eris prepared to enter the fray, the Lord apparent turned to look at them.
"You three, keep a perimeter behind us... and keep up! You claimed to want the bond, yes? Then show me the reason why you were moved up the ranks. Tsunami, Arc! Come!"
With that, the General and posse left the three initiates.
Just then Coral spoke up with a grin,
"Welp, I guess we should get going huh?"
Down the overgrowth-covered hallway, The General and his hands quickly moved onwards. The sounds of rushing water and crumbling ruins being a constant in their ears.
The Hall finally opened up into what appeared to be a partly-sunken but seemingly forested section of a city district. A set of stairs from the hall stretches down onto a rounded platform with another two sets of stairs leading in opposite directions. They wrapped around to the base of the structure to meet again in the middle.
Further examination of the immediate area revealed a large clearing of sorts below and around the platform. A park maybe, though most of it was submerged. The trees still standing within the park forest carrying the very same lilac leaves he'd grown familiar with, also mostly submerged. Still, the rubble of fallen towers and buildings were sprinkled around the small forest. The young Arc could easily see plenty of places for people to hide in and around, making an ambush almost impossible to avoid.
To make matters worse, all of the forest was walled off, other closed gates could be seen lining the walls.
That being said, Jaune quietly marveled at how strangely beautiful this place was, it must've been quite the sight before The Dusk. He noticed how the strange, dark mist that enveloped the Kingdom was far more prevalent here. It cast a deep blue hue upon the small forest, complimenting the lilac of trees and the water at their feet.
"Be on guard, you two," the General muttered as he scanned the area warily.
Navy pulled out her tonfas from that strange shining piece of metal behind her, light bending into shape once more. Not wanting to be late on the draw, out came Crocea Mors. He didn't bother drawing the shield, wanting more speed on the off chance he had to make more strenuous maneuvers.
Seeing his escort with their weapons drawn, Lord Granite led them down closest staircase. The forest stretched out before them as they reached the base of the stairs, the last step, completely submerged. Jaune was definitely thankful for the new clothes now, his boots especially.
With said boots now in the water, the trio quickly crossed over the tree line as moved further into the wooded area. The splash of their boots in the water making it difficult to hear the forest around them.
That is, before he felt the wind of a bullet whizz past his face. Its steam trail was still visible to the only Faunus member of the group. The sheer surprise causing his body to back-petal a fair amount. Navy, also seeing the lone projectile was quick on the up take as she turned to aim herself in the area she suspected the bullet came from.
Pooling aura into his legs, he dashed to the General's side. Just then, a squad of five jumped out of a nearby dilapidated home. They looked pretty run of the mill all things considered, each of them wearing basic lavender fatigues and wielding short swords. None of them looked to be too much of a problem save for the one which was sporting what appeared to be some type of approximation of a sniper rifle.
"Contact!" Navy shouted, as she quickly unleashed a hailstorm of bullets down the line in front of Jaune, her blank expression slowly giving way to wrathful mania. The five assailants made haste to dodge and counter the oncoming assault, though two of them simply weren't very lucky as Navy's bullet barrage effectively shattered their Auras. They fell harshly to the submerged floor with loud splashes and crashes.
The sniper ran, briskly scaling the nearby ruin before perching himself in a window and took aim at the young Arc once more.
Jaune was already engaged in swordplay with one of the other attackers. Ducking under an overhead swing, he rolled into his opponent's blind side. He sprung up from the ground with an upwards swing of his blade, instantly tearing through the mans Aura. With a solid roundhouse kick, he was easily dispatched afterwards.
"Don't wait for your enemy to close the distance, boy." Lord Granite huffed, closely examining the Arcs fight. Or rather, watching the second to last soldier make his way to Jaune while his back is turned.
Barely catching the Generals hint, he spun in place. Extending his blade with his with arm,he swung wide but it was enough to halt the other soldiers advance. He tried to back away from the young Arc but his footing had failed him. He was in free fall, allowing for Jaune to make his way overtop of the warrior and incapacitate him with the butt of his sword handle.
bang* *bang*
Two more shots flew by him, one of which was way too close to his face for comfort. He leaped behind a nearby tree for cover.
"Pay attention to your surroundings, Boy," Slade chastised from another tree, he was eating what appeared to be a fruit of some kind.
Jaune stared at the so-called General incredulously. Only to be taken out of his musings by his partn- escort.
"Grrrraaahhhh!" Navy's shout pieced the air as she leaped out of her cover and aimed straight for the snipers nest. This time, no skulls were present however. No, this time it was a heart; a juicy pink, slightly see through heart was hovering in front of her crosshairs. Stranger still, there were small, golden question marks orbiting around the throbbing heart.
Flaring her Aura then pulling the triggers, Navy's pink heart shot into the window at ridiculous speeds; a pink projectile covered in golden streams streaked through the air. She was spot on as the sniper was quickly hit in the face by a pink lemonade bullet. His head snapped back with his body following him down.
Though he didn't stay down like the Grimm did before. He quickly stood back up, dropped his gun and just stood there with a vacant look in his eyes.
"Where are the rest of your unit?" Navy asked him in all her monotone glory and to Jaunes flabbergasted surprise... he answered.
"The majority of our forces have stationed themselves at The Palatial Seat."
He spoke with a low, scratchy voice. 'He probably smokes,' the young Arc thought.
Lord Granite openly voiced his thoughts at the revelation "How typical, royal blood staying in royal areas... Our opponents here are from The Chalice, a unit composed of soldiers still carrying some royal blood. Not from our Empress, of course but she did have cousins."
"Anything else I should know, that wasn't told to me?" Jaune let his snarky ways out just for a moment, technically he's right too.
"Yes, the last group in here with us is The Gorgon. All women, no brakes. They're just like you in the sense of strategy, everything move they make has a purpose."
"Why is all of this so eleborate? Its just training isn't it?" Questions were forming in Jaunes mind about all of this. If they all were of the same army, why are they split up like this? Bad blood maybe?
"Because this place has more than one purpose for us. Come, we need to keep moving, I will explain when we arrive at the coast." The General explained while walking away from the two young fighters.
"Release him, Tsunami." He called over his shoulder.
Hearing this, She stared at the Chalice soldier and flicked her dorsal-fin ears once. The man instantly crumbled to the floor like a stack of cards. She sent a nod to the General and Jaune as she continued to walk as well.
Sheathing his sword, he quickly followed them into the woods. Well he tried to because as soon as he took a step from his position, he fell into the water.
Normally, Jaune was never one to shy away from water, he loved to swim. This was anything but that, he was sinking.
Was the shallow water not so shallow after all? He futilely tried swim up, all for naught as his body was somehow committed to descending. He opened his eyes to see himself surrounded by pitch black. He tried to reach out but he couldn't even see his own hands, it was so dark.
So very dark.
"You are lost in the dark, my child..."
'That voice..!'
Still enveloped in darkness, turning around made no difference even if he could. He could only wait it out and that unnerved him.
"Pain..."
"Loss..."
"Sadness and longing..."
"I see them all within you..."
In that instant, two violet eyes once again emerged from the ambient dark. Their presence pulling the darkness and Jaune into them. Having no say in the matter, he was slowly absorbed into them.
"But it is you who must see them..."
"You must see the truth...and I will show it to you."
An explosion of blinding light encompassed his vision, turning his world white.
Soon enough, his vision cleared and what he saw, he couldn't believe.
He was at the top of Beacon's Tower.
What was worse... was that he could see her.
There she was, in her beautiful, crimson haired glory and all, down on her knees and staring up at that... that demon of a woman.
Here was Pyrrha Nikos, defeated and at the mercy of CinderFall.
"Do you believe in destiny?"
Words from the Author:
Another one. (Dj Khalid voice)
Seriously though, I was trying to keep releasing these chapters on a weekend basis but clearly that didn't work. I will however make sure to always drop a chapter a week. I like consistency, its why I chose to write this story lol.
A few things I wanna touch on so nobody's in the dark about what's happening here.
Navy Tsunami : I fucking love her, She was an OC of mine for a while and now I can finally use her! :)
Her Semblance? I wont outright tell you what it is but Ill give you a hint.
Every mmorpg/Rpg game has these.
As for the type of Faunus she is; Betta Fish. Violent lil fuckers but are pretty chill on their own. (Hence her monotone to crazy switch) Got some artwork for her too if you guys ever want to see it. ;)
The Bonding
This is basically gonna be my own attempt at somehow using the darkness against the Grimm via ritualistic self betterment and Jaunes personal Dark night of the Soul.
Thats all you guys are getting out of me, gonna do some spellchecks on the other chapters so DIOB can be presentable as fuck.
Byyyeeee